My parents were big fans of "soapies" as punishment, especially because I was such a smart-mouth. Had to bite my teeth into a bar of Dove soap and hold it in my mouth for 20 minutes. Still can't stand the scent of original Dove.

Last few times I was punished, I was offered the choice between a soapie or the belt. Chose the belt every time.

As for seatbelts, it's minimal effort to wear them. People who are anti-seatbelts are infinitely more annoying that those who pressure others to wear them. No, they won't always save you, but what will at that point? My younger brother wrapped his car around a tree going so fast that the driver's side basically disintegrated and he was still ejected 50ft despite wearing a seatbelt. He died on impact with the ground, alternative would have been burning alive in the wreckage. Variance, I guess.

I probably see kids riding in the boot once every few months.

Your aunt, if you aren’t exaggerating, shouldn’t be allowed to drive. I wonder what her insurance rates are. Once a year is either dumb or negligent and a menace to other drivers.

I always wear my seat belt no matter who the driver is.

This. Number one was three and change at the time and IMO was cognizant enough to be able to understand that biting is not acceptable conduct. Previous punishments (being sent to her room and then being deprived of dessert) were not sufficient to get her to understand the point. I was not and am not a parent who gets in random contests-of-will with my children, and I used the voice of command only rarely when they were young and never now. I may have threatened her with spanking once or twice since then, but that was a rare event.

She is a well-adjusted, mature, self-motivated young woman at this point and bears no emotional scars from this singular event. We have a warm and close relationship, even though many of her philosophical ideas differ greatly from mine. I do not think there should be a categorical bar against corporal punishment, although it should IMO be used only rarely and only as a last resort.

FYI, we also established a no-whining rule. Any whine resulted in an automatic no, regardless of the legitimacy of the request. Neither child whines.

If I could only get rid of “like,” I’d be a happy man.

Don't forget the $5 fine.

Literally?

She came here from Asia 9 years ago and has had 7 accidents, 2 or 3 of them semi-major. She never drove in Asia, and had to learn to here. She is the embodiment of the stereotypically bad old female Asian driver. I don't know what her insurance rates are, but they have money.

I don't necessarily disagree that maybe she shouldn't be allowed to drive, but I also think that of a lot of olds. Maybe beyond a certain number of accidents or certain age, people should be tested more strictly or more often, I don't know.

Jish,

Sorry to hear that, that’s really terrible.

I've always thought that retesting should happen at a certain age, but what age and how frequently are difficult questions. And certainly if she's had an accident per year almost and they're her fault, her license should have been taken away by whatever state she lives in by now. I wonder how they're letting that slip.

Jish,

What did you do to deserve either a soapie or the belt, as the case may be?

One time he helped his father change a tire and dropped all of the lug nuts and said oh fudge. Only he didn’t say fudge. He said the word. The big one. The queen mother of dirty words.

Once self-driving cars are commonplace, this will no longer be an issue. We're not that far away.

That's a time that I'm very much looking forward to. It's going to result in a lot of positive changes. Some of the ones I'm excited about:

- far, far, far fewer accidents. No more impaired driving, whether from alcohol, drugs, fatigue, inattention, etc. No more distracted driving from conversations, electronic device usage, eating, rubbernecking, etc. Far better reaction time and analysis of unexpected events like blowouts, hydroplaning, other vehicle movements, etc. If people understood just how many fewer accidents there are going to be, there would be a far greater push for adoption of the technology. I'd be surprised if we had even 2% as many accidents as we do now once all cars are self-driving. Right now USA#1 averages 6 million car accidents per year with about 37,000 car accident fatalities per year.

- the side effects associated with fewer accidents. Less grief. Less suffering. Fewer medical expenses. Significantly lower insurance rates. Less economic hardship, both expected and unexpected.

- fewer vehicles on the road due to automated ride services. Less traffic as a result. Less pollution as a result.

- more economic freedom as a result of increased commuting options and increased leisure travel options. The highway systems will gain the ability to function almost like train tracks for mass commuting and travel. Especially with computer controlled shared ride systems.

- less parking congestion and related expenses. No need to park at work, just send your car home or to an inexpensive nearby lot instead of trying to park downtown.

- increased quality of life and economic activity from involuntary shut-ins like olds and people with medical conditions that prevent them from driving.

lots of other reasons as well

Thank you, seriously. It'll be 7 years this March. He was my best friend in the entire world. Life is crazy.

As mentioned, I was a "smart-mouth" as my mother dubbed it. It was usually for swearing or talking back. I feel like soapies were strictly for verbal stuff (e.g. clean out your mouth), whereas I'd get the belt/choice for general misbehavior. I'm the middle child of three boys, and was an expert at needling the piss out of the other two. The usual line before dishing out punishment was, "How many times did you do it after I told you to stop?"

I would sheepishly reply, "One too many "

Gold, truly laughed out loud. I love when Ralphie's mom tastes the soap herself at the end of the scene.

The third one might be true as long as the self-driving cars aren't just driving around waiting for someone to hail them because they don't have a place to park/they aren't willing to pay for parking. I think the cities where this would be an issue though will have laws against it.

There are 6 parking spaces for every car in the U.S. I'm fine with zombie cars if it means fewer hideous parking lots.

The self-driving cars, at least for a while, are mostly going to be in places like SF.

LA has this going on now. Something like this will probably be there for self-driving cars.

Maybe theres extra parking if you live in butthole, USA

Yes, that stat has to include Walmart parking lots in bum **** Utah or wherever.

No, there are more big box stores in cities that have lots designed to handle the max Christmas rush. I may have been wrong, the actual number varies from 3.5 to 8 per vehicle according to this study.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/1.../3/034001/meta

Now Im fired up! What is a realistic timeline?

Give it 10 years

The Allman Brothers' Whipping Post is easily the GOAT corporeal punishment pop song. Can't beat it!

"Beat It" was by Micheal Jackson.

Devo tho.

Actual pop song about corporeal punishment: